Close Romantic Encounters of the Third Kind
is the 145 chapter of The World God Only Knows. Synopsis Keima has finally found the fourth goddess, Mars, who was inside Yui. Before he gets himself ready to find the remaining two goddesses in the left-over three goddess candidates, Haqua points out one mistake that he has made in the past. She shows with her feather cloth a video playback that shows Shiori witnessing Keima's cross dressing, especially when he was laughing out in a strange way. Seeing his mistakes, he feels a bit worried. But Haqua knows that Keima has a way to get around and leaves it to him. Inside the library, in a story narration fashion, Shiori introduces herself as she sits in her usual seat. She then states that she's possessed by an absurdly great strangeness which she can't understand, and one that stays with her without leaving for even a moment. Fujiidera calls out to her, and Shiori shakes in alertness, hitting her knee against the desk she's in. Fujiidera asks if Shiori is finished, but she responds that she almost done. Not satisfied with "almost", Fujiidera tells Shiori that she only has till the day after tomorrow to finish, or else she can't submit her work. Fujiidera leaves, and Shiori's narration returns. She now says that she's beginning to understand what the strangeness could be. She thinks that it could be love. Once again, she's interrupted by a student who wishes to borrow a book. As she takes care of the student's request, she goes to narrating, saying her assumption that the strangeness is love is only a "maybe". Throughout her whole life, she never took notice that love could take shape. Though she always read about it, the love she's experiencing right now is not the sweet and charming love she saw portrayed in books. Instead, the one she loves is of the very opposite. She talks about how evil and horrible that "thing" (Keima) is. How that thing interfered with her novel. how that "thing" embraced another man. How that "thing" laughed gaudily while dressed in girl's clothes. Even with all of this, Shiori still recognizes that that "thing" was the same person who saved her while she was confined in the library. She wonders what sort of person is like that. She is even amazed that her first encounter with a male was with a disgusting, perverted, cross-dressing man, while she is supposed be a bookworm with no confidence with interpersonal communication. She is back to reading, and as she does, she starts to state in anger that Keima did not keep his promise. Even though he said he would return, Keima did not come the day before, to Shiori's disappointment. She then remembers that she shared a kiss with him, but nothing else recollects. She wonders why she forgot about such momentous occasions such as her first kiss. Then Shiori hears some rustling sounds from a nearby bookshelf. There is a small girl , wearing the school uniform's shirt, holding a book. Shiori knows this little girl, for the girl seems to have been around on a few occasion before. Shiori goes to approach the girl, but as she goes to the bookshelf where the girl hid behind, she is gone. Shiori is now in front of Keima's class, class 2-B. She is thinking about a reason why she's wishing to meet Keima, when Mobuko appears and is about to enter the class. Shiori stops her, trying to ask her if Keima is in the room. Mobuko goes in to check, but comes later to say that he's not present. But when she does, Shiori is not in front of the classroom any more. Shiori is heading back to the library, thinking that she doesn't need to meet Keima. She feels that he had no interesting in her from the start, thinking he only wished to make a simple pass at her because they talked a bit. She realizes that if she tries to write the novel she was trying to write, or walk outside in the open, a library-person like her would only receive broken bones. She feels it's a great progress to notice such things, for now she can return to her normal life. But as she enters, at one of the tables, a still cross-dressed Keima is sitting. Shiori stares at him, feeling a strangeness that she does not comprehend. References Category:Chapters Category:Summary